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Sanders Strikes a Chord in Glover

GLOVER - To the backdrop of Glover’s historic panted curtains and the sounds of local musicians, Bernie Sanders took the microphone Sunday night to deliver his speech on issues facing America. Sanders is holding 31 Town Meetings during his re-election campaign to talk about his work in Washington.He discussed Vermont’s move toward a single-payer healthcare system; his fight to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; the need for decent paying jobs and how to get them; fixing the economy; and his fight to get the top one percent to pay their fair share of taxes.Sanders wasn’t the only politician present. Democrats Sam Young and Bobby Starr (both running in 2012, Young for House, and Starr for Senate) spoke up for Sanders. Young commented, “I’m pretty certain he’s going to win because I had to look up who was running against him.” This brought laughter from the crowd.Close to 100 people attended the meeting and many gave Sanders a standing ovation. Some time was given over to questions at the end of the meeting. Bill Bevans stood and pushed the need to vote. He told the audience that they had been schooled by Sanders and that, like students, they would need to go out into the world and use that information. Bevans urged them to vote for Sanders and other like-minded people, including Bobby Star, John Rodgers, and Sam Young.Pam Tiff of Barton spoke about the Jay Peak project. She worries that foreign investment would bring foreign workers to fill the jobs. Sanders spoke in favor of the project and said Bill Stenger’s work on Jay Peak has used local companies and labor in the past and he believed it would do so in this expansion as well.Sanders was asked why congress was supporting subsidies for wind energy even though people in communities were fighting it so hard and when investors have taken advantage of the money and while stepping on the rights of property owners. Sanders asked what the audience thought of Vermont Yankee and coal powered plants. He said most of Congress was against that type of energy too and that is why renewable energy projects were being supported. He said he has talked to people around the state and most seem to support wind. He even went so far as to say he doesn’t find them unattractive, sparking response from the audience.“See we disagree on some things,” Sanders said, “but on the big things we, most people, generally agree.”